Lark

**Spoiler Warning:**
 Plot and/or ending details follow.

**Please do *not* edit this article without prior permission from Marsh. Thank you!**

## LarkLark Aile

* Lark
* Reference

## Equipment

### Gear:

King Flip Mesh (head)
Orca Bolero (body)
Black Seahorses (shoes)

## Relationships

### Friend(s):

Kira
Sai

## Appearances

### Living:

Unfamiliarity

**Lark**, also known as his full name, **Lark Aile**, is an Inkling boy who lives in Inkopolis and is a protagonist in Unfamiliarity.

He is **20** years old, and lives with his girlfriend, Zoe.

## **History**

### Unfamiliarity

Completely orphaned and feeling somewhat abandoned at the age of 16, **Lark**, unfortunately, has a troubled past. When his mother died, he was left with her house and all her debt she accumulated when she died. He didn't have a father figure in his life and now he was left to try live up to his mother's unrealistic legacy she had set for him.

In the lead up to her death, he attended an expensive school, as his mother wanted him to go on and thrive with a great job. His mother used to work day and night to save up funds so he could keep going and he just couldn't find the heart to tell her that he wanted to leave as he hated to see her work herself to death - despite all of the friends he had made at that school. When his mother all of a sudden died in a freak accident, he just knew he couldn't keep going to that school as he would have no money and just build up debt even further.

Subsequently after dropping out school, he applied to do Salmon Run shifts for a living. The job was high-risk and sketchy, but the pay was enough for him to be in a better spot than he once was, financially.
However, eventually the guilt from his decisions still weighed on his conscience and he started to suffer from various problems, like chronic migraines and eventually anxiety. His job was becoming too stressful for him and he was starting to experience episodes where'd he'd imagine things or have flashbacks to when his mother was alive. Although, there was no opportunity for him to be able to get out.

His world changes when he meets Zoe; a young Octoling who he finds bruised and beaten on the street, after having freshly escaped the underground. Zoe, too, like him, was poor and had really nobody or nowhere to go to, so he lets her stay with him in his house. It's important to note that when they meet he is still living in what used to be his mother's old house and apologises to Zoe for it being so small.

From there on, they build a friendship. Lark finds himself doing special things for her, like buying her stuff when he knows he doesn't have a lot of money to spare. He realises he's slowly falling love with her, but tries to suppress the feeling and constantly deny it as he feels guilty for doing so. Zoe eventually gets a job nearby to help support him and helps pay him back some things he has done for her.

Lark's friends start noticing how he is with Zoe and subsequently start asking him about her. He constantly denies that they're romantically involved and Zoe is under the impression he doesn't like her the way she likes him because of how much he pushes her away without realising.

TBA

## **Trivia**

### Interesting facts

* He looks similar to **Marsh**'s current in-game Inkling, but not to be confused with him.
* His surname is French for "**wing**".
	+ This is a reference to his name being a species of bird.
* Marsh likes to think when **Lark** allowed Zoe to stay with him he empathised with Zoe - he saw some of himself in her, at least with regards to her living situation anyways and felt sorry for her.
* **Lark**, later in his life, goes back to his academy to complete his final year and with that becomes an accounting supervisor - indeed living up to his mother's expectations to get him a good job.

### Mistakes

* **Marsh** often gets confused when drawing his hair, more specifically his fringe because it's swept to one side. It should be on the left-side of his face for the most part.

## Relationships

### **Zoe**

"*TBA*"
—**Lark** *Unknown*, TBA
**Zoe** is ****Lark****'s girlfriend and he cares very much for her.

Although their process to actually finding out their feelings for each-other was a complex one.

They met when he was going on one of his nightly runs and he tripped over her, cold, unconscious and injured on the pavement after she had escaped been mugged. When he found her, she had just escaped the Octarian underground. He was in shock and didn't want to leave her to rot on the street so he kindly carried her to his house where he gave her a place to stay.

When she was in a better state, she regained consciousness and found herself in Lark's home. At first Zoe was scared of Lark - thinking Lark, too, wanted to hurt her. She freaked out for a moment until Lark explained to her what he had done for her.

Zoe broke down into tears and thanked him, explaining herself and how she didn't have anywhere to go because she had just freshly escaped the underground. Lark, confused, all whilst feeling bad for her and yet again not really wanting to leave her to fend for herself, offered her a place at his house until she was able to support herself enough to the point where she could move out.

TBA

### **Aster**

"*TBA*"
—**Lark** *Unknown*, TBA
**Aster** is ****Lark**'**s ex-boyfriend.

They met in the academy his mother sent him to, being in the same class. They slowly grew feelings for each other, and while their relationship wasn't long, it ended on good terms. In hindsight, it taught Lark a lot about love and he dwelled on their break up for quite some time after, wondering what he could've done differently to keep him around in his life, especially after he passed away.

Their relationship started to experience difficulty after **Lark**'s mother died. He wasn't in a good mental state and could no longer attend school due to his lack of financial stability, leaving a lack of contact between the two before they decided to mutually split.

Due to their short-lived relationship, Lark started to believe he wasn't capable of ever loving again. Furtherly, Aster later and very unfortunately died in a fire that occurred at the academy shortly after **Lark** dropped out. While they were no longer romantically involved at that point, Lark found himself starting to blame himself for his death as he still cared about him.

TBA

### **Ruby**

"*TBA*"
—**Lark** *Unknown*, TBA
**Ruby** is ****Lark**'**s older sister, with a two year difference.

Growing up, they were not too close to each other and didn't really share a close bond with one another. This was due to the nature of Ruby constantly fighting with Dove, their mother. Lark often found himself jumping to defend his mother and therefore a lot of mutual disagreements ended up occurring between them.

It was clear to Ruby she wasn't the 'favourite child' and it made her somewhat jealous and distant of Lark and her mother. She didn't get a special education like Lark did and this only spiralled her further into arguing with the two of them. She moved out when Lark was fourteen years old, two years before their mother's death.

When Dove died, Ruby was living with her partner, Eko, and couldn't do much for Lark either as she was still attending public school, nor did she really want to anything for Lark, knowing their history. They kept in contact loosely, but overall not much interaction was exchanged between them until Lark met Zoe

Ruby reached out and apologised for pushing him away when he really needed it, offering to rekindle their relationship.

TBA

## Personality & Traits

**Lark** as a person is very reserved in nature and very dry. He doesn't really express his emotions that much, as well as typically not expressing or exaggerating his words and speaks in a rather monotone voice. Additionally, upon first meeting him, he wears a tough exterior that's rather hard to break down.

He isn't that talkative, but when Lark entrusts someone and lets his guard down, they break through his tough exterior and he becomes more light-hearted and humorous as a result. While he may not show it with his words, he cares deeply for his friends and shows it through his actions instead.

## Family

### Members

**Girlfriend**:

Zoe: Living (as of *Unfamiliarity*)

**Mother**:

Dove: Deceased (as of Unfamiliarity)

**Sister**:

Ruby: Living (as of *Unfamiliarity*)

## References & Citations

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Revealed in *Unfamiliarity*, chapter 2
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Revealed in *Unfamiliarity*, chapter 3
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Revealed by **Marsh**
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Revealed in *Unfamiliarity*, chapter 10
5. ↑ Revealed in *Unfamiliarity*, chapter 8