Natalya Rassvet was born on Caprica, the daughter of wealthy industrialists who saw her as yet another source of pride and recognition. Believing that any daughter of theirs of course HAD to be highly talented at something or other, she was immediately enrolled in countless children's programs. She danced in her first recital at age 3, sang in her first children's choir at age 5. Her life was a maze of servants and tutors, to the point where her own parents were barely blips on her radar. So, when both were killed in an accident on a Space Liner, she cried dutifully at the funeral, which she had to leave early in order to make her next dance lesson. Seeing this, one of her aunts decided that a change was needed, and so took custody and moved her to Tauron. When Nataly arrived at Davidson High School on Tauron, she was a new girl like any other. Sure, she was cute, and had multiple talents, but no friends and seemed a bit shy. It took everyone by surprise as she slowly integrated herself into every aspect of school life. She wrote for the school newspaper, sang with the choir, played keyboards for the band, starred in school plays, she was even a cheerleader for the Pyramid team. She had friends, now, even a boyfriend on the Pyramid Squad, something there had never been time for on Caprica. She had everything she could want… except parents.
That wasn't entirely true. Her aunt and uncle were beautiful people, more caring than anyone she'd known on Caprica. They continued paying for the lessons she'd had as a little girl, and attended every concert, every dance recital. Her uncle, a musician himself, even let her use his studio for some recording of her own, which she enjoyed and embraced with all her heart. Sitting with him, playing the instruments, and writing songs with him became yet another passion of hers. He also discovered her love of journaling, and encouraged it, often clipping her columns in the school paper and displaying them on the home refrigerator.
She was just getting to the point when it was time to decide what would come after High School. Her aunt and uncle were with her when she attended an optional assembly at her school concerning enlistment in the Colonial Military, a talk given by the charismatic Captain Joe Ryder. She was intrigued, much to her guardians horror, as they had been ready to send her to any school she could get accepted to so she could pursue her various artistic dreams. They were in a heated conversation over previous plans to further her education when a flash of light filled the room, quickly followed by a shattering of broken glass.
The next day or two was a blur. Her uncle was killed by the glass shrapnel, and she was barely able to hold it together herself as she pulled her aunt along with the small group that Captain Ryder managed to hold together, travelling miles by foot until they found another, older school building in the more impoverished town of Mycenaedor. The school being older, it still had an old bomb shelter, a relic from the first Cylon war, and there she stayed. Her aunt nearly comotose, she spent much of her free time with the Captain as he taught her the skills she would need now, such as how to punch someone who deserved it, or how to fire a gun. Though he never permitted her to join the guard rotation, he frequently said that it wouldn't be long before she could take her part, and she was looking forward to that, valuing her time with the old man as he trained her and the others, as well as doing what she could to help manage the other children.
It seemed unbelievable when their scouts reported Colonial Craft flying overhead, and soon she was on a bus driving towards the Colonial Base, Ryder at the wheel. She watched in fascination as the military people took her and the others to the newly named Elpis, and she found herself once again with a new life: the ship, the new school, and all around her, the military. The life is not without pressures… she is a good looking girl in a place where single women are rare, and the bar just down the way has a few stripper poles. However, the Captain has some strong opinions on this girls future, and after the impassioned talk he gave even before the worlds ended, it may not be long before the girl pursues yet another dream.