Noodlefly

Noodleflies (frequently nicknamed "Noots" or "Noodles") are neutral creatures, often seen flying around in groups of a single adult leading several infants.

Appearance
Adults have long, wiggly bodies, four wings, two oval eyes, vestigial legs and a stretchy tube-like mouth. They also possess a retractable needle which they use to fend off predators and other Noodleflies. Their bodies are mostly monotone, featuring a lighter strip of color in the middle, and slight gradients on the legs. Their teardrop-shaped wings are usually shades of white or grey, though they sometimes may transition into more vibrant colors closer to the body. The needle is initially white at the tip and a pale red near the mouth, and turns black shortly after being exposed to the air.

Combat
Adult Noodleflies are frail but fierce, making up for their low health with high mobility, which makes it very difficult to hit them from a distance while airborne. They utilize two attacks in combat: the poke - a quick, close-range, temporarily stunning jab, and the stab - a lethal, long-range lunge with a well telegraphed wind-up. If dodged, the stab can lodge the Noodlefly into a wall or floor, trapping it for around 3–4 seconds. This leaves an opportunity to kill it with a. Making contact with the tip of the needle may stun the Slugcat and cause it to drop any items.

Evasion
Hiding in pipes or tunnels is an effective evasion strategy, as adults are unable to attack while in one. They may still try to attack from outside one, however. Alternatively, the player may attempt to get very close (practically touching it), as doing so makes the Noodlefly unable to attack, and may even cause it to fully retract the needle for a short amount of time.

Abilities & Behavior
Adult Noodleflies fly across the region with their offspring. They spend most of their time in the air, but may also crawl through pipes and tunnels. Adults mainly fly about idly, watching other creatures like the at a distance (with the exception of other Adult Noodleflies, who are always hostile to one another).

Dodge
Adult Noodleflies can swiftly dodge thrown objects such as Spears and. This has a very short cooldown, rendering them near impossible to hit in flight.

Aggression
If an Adult Noodlefly perceives another creature as a threat to either it or its offspring (including when a is being held by the player), it becomes aggressive and begins hunting down the offending creature. Within the game's code, a value called tempLike determines a creature's relationship with an Adult Noodlefly. This number slowly increases over time, but certain actions lower it. If it falls below -0.25, the adult becomes hostile for as long as it stays there. Notably, being the closest to an injured Infant Noodlefly instantly sets this amount to -1, the lowest possible, which is why an adult can often stay aggravated for an entire cycle if it was angered this way. Attempting to chuck Spears or Rubbish at the Noodlefly, and hitting it with Rubbish also decreases the value. In practice this means that missing 50 throws with Rubbish, 12 throws with a Spear, or hitting one 16 times with Rubbish turns it hostile for a short period of time.

Infant Noodleflies
Infant Noodleflies share many physical traits with adults but are much smaller. They have slim, mostly monochrome bodies with a lighter strip of color in the middle, four wings, oval eyes and a mouth, but only two vestigial legs. They also produce much higher pitched sounds when compared to adults.

Infants are passive but avoid other creatures. They stay close to their parent, sometimes holding onto its tail as they fly around. Infant Noodleflies can be eaten, but cry out when grabbed or otherwise killed, alerting the nearest adult in the region.

Variants & Attributes
Adult Noodleflies have a large color range, sporting various shades of red, pink, purple, white or black, even blue and cyan. The ends of their wings and legs are oftentimes differently colored, but seem to use the same palette as the body. Their eyes are most often grey or white, but may very rarely be different colors. Infant Noodleflies have less variation in their palette, mainly featuring shades of red with a little pink, and some grey as well.

* Notes:
 * Every color is represented proportionately to its likeliness.
 * Only the main body color is shown here; various highlights, gradients, and differently-colored body parts may be added to it.
 * These colors are subject to change slightly depending on the palette of the room they are seen in. The ones shown here correspond to the default Outskirts palette.

Trivia

 * Noodleflies were added in the 1.5 update.
 * When grabbed, Infant Noodleflies die after a second, even if they are immediately released.
 * Infant Noodleflies can be hit with Rubbish without them crying out.
 * Dead Infant Noodleflies that are carried to the next cycle in a shelter cry out after taking a bite out of them, though this does not alert the adult.
 * If an Adult Noodlefly is killed while stuck in a surface, it stays that way for a few seconds before falling off.
 * It is possible for two Adult Noodleflies to stab each other and die simultaneously.
 * When an Infant Noodlefly cries out, the nearest adult attacks the closest creature to the offspring, as opposed to the one that injured it. This makes spearing an infant from afar, or grabbing and tossing it a niche way of dealing with predators, and eating the infant without alerting the parent.
 * An Adult Noodlefly can also aggro onto an if it happens to be the closest. However, their stab is incapable of killing it, effectively locking them into chasing it around for the whole cycle.
 * If a Noodlefly parent is killed in a hibernation chamber and the children are still alive when hibernating, on the following cycle, the children spawn in the chamber whether they were there before or not.
 * If the previous glitch is performed and the babies are killed or eaten, a new Noodlefly spawns and starts hunting the player.
 * When used against other creatures, the stab deals a little more damage than a Spear thrown by the Survivor (1.22), and the poke deals the equivalent of 5 pieces of Rubbish (0.05).
 * If a Noodlefly has more than one target, it targets the closest one.
 * If the two targets are of similar distance away, it switches between them, often causing it to miss.
 * Adult Noodleflies are incapable of hurting Infant Noodleflies. This can be seen by trying to stab an Infant Noodlefly while playing as an Adult Noodlefly in Safari Mode.