Stick a slack set in the Aeris 120?
Optic is very nice but they normally come with a 140mm Fox 36 or Lyrik don’t they? 120mm SID might not be ideal.
What travel is a Sonder Cortex – that might do the job and the frame would be well in budget?
Maybe a Cotic Flaremax – although it will come up heavier than a Spur or Izzy I should imagine.
Hightower is 140mm travel – I’d think the Tallboy was more what you mean with the fork suggested. You could see if you could find a previous gen alloy one to get within budget.
A bit rowdier than most of the above you have the Nukeproof Reactor (actually again 140mm fork / 130mm rear) and the Saracen Ariel x 30 (also 130mm rear and I assume 130 or 140mm rear. The latter is massive – the medium has a 480mm reach!