Ashlyn Shelley

Ashlyn Shelley was the original name of a person who went to the Inn in 2006 and was transformed into Jean-Michel Therriot, while her identity was taken up by the former Jake Matthews.

Early Life
A resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ashlyn visited Maine with her former roommate Elizabeth Lee. She was an exceptionally attractive, buxom, redheaded 23-year-old girl with a pronounced New England accent. She was plagued by financial trouble and either unwilling or unable to hold down a steady job. She survived by taking part-time work, usually in promotions. She dropped out of college in her sophomore year. She had a modelling agent, but went long spans of time without hearing from them: after being in Ashlyn's body for nearly two months, Jake had never heard anything about it. She had, however, auditioned for a strip club. The owner, Anthony, was all too happy to offer Ashlyn a position, but by that time she was in no position to accept, having already been transformed.

In high school, Ashlyn had been an honor student, with awards and plaques for cheerleading and drama decorating her childhood bedroom. Her parents resided in Providence, Rhode Island.

As of August 2006, she was living with four roommates: Jordan, Billie, Dean and Logan. She had an ex-boyfriend named Josh, who was still in love with her and indicated he was trying to get her back. Ashlyn specifically requested the inheritor of her body "be nice to him." She had broken up with him because a mutual friend had seen Josh ring shopping, and, as Ashlyn wrote in her diary, she didn't see herself marrying him despite loving him.

Post-Transformation
After visiting the Inn, she went to live as Jean-Michel Therriot in Montreal with Liz, who had been transformed into Marie Desjardins, while Jake Matthews lived as Ashlyn. Jean-Michel was an operative in the organization of criminal Andre Trudeau, while Desjardins was his mistress. Ashlyn's passable knowledge of French, which came from having dated hockey players, helped her to blend in with her surroundings. She described herself as being able to put up with the stressful lifestyle because, like Jake as Ashlyn, she "didn't have a choice." During her early time as Jean-Michel, she engaged in a sexual relationship with Liz/Marie, which he regarded as helpful and healthy, being that they knew each other, and that as Marie Liz was expected to put out for Andre Trudeau on a regular basis.

Ashlyn invited Jake to spend New Year's Eve with her in Montreal, which Jake accepted. Over dinner, they discussed the relative merits of their situations, and she revealed that, despite Art's discovery of a way to reverse the curse, she intended to stay as Jean-Michel, and hoped that Jake would keep her original life as Ashlyn. After the New Year's event, the now-male helped talk Jake through his conflicting feelings about men and his own womanhood, a conversation centering largely on Ashlyn's obvious physical femininity, and Jake's need to embrace it. The pair ended up making love, enthusiastically. He later visited Boston "on business" in April, engaging Ashlyn physically once again. When the new Ashlyn mentioned her "secret admirer," Jean-Michel revealed he, too had had a secret admirer, who gave him cash and a car early on during his time in his new life. His theory was that this person or persons were helping them "establish" their new lives.

As Jean-Michel, Ashlyn was described as ruggedly handsome, with short brown hair and dark brown eyes. With a two-day growth of beard, he looked "tough."