Vanessa Viscera is known to most as the heiress to her mother’s mortuary. She was trained from a young age to perform embalming procedures and play a moist-eyed mourner at sparsely attended funerals for wealthy customers. But Vanessa knew this wasn’t the life she wanted. Although she had come to love her mother’s work, she decided to leave home and become something greater: a burlesque dancer.

Vanessa showed up on Miss Effie’s doorstep late one night and begged her to teach her the ways of striptease. After some careful thought, Miss Effie instructed Vanessa to change her name to Nessie; abandon the blood and bones and substitute them with rhinestones and tear-away clothing. Nessie loves her new life and is eternally indebted to Miss Effie… However sometimes late at night, she visits the basement to shine her collection of embalming tools, just in case.