Noodlefly



Noodleflies (affectionately known as "Noots" by many fans) are neutral creatures often seen floating around in groups of one adult and several juveniles.

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

Behaviour
Left unprovoked, Adult Noodleflies will explore the land with their offspring. It isn't uncommon to see a Baby Noodlefly holding onto their parent's tail while they fly around. Noodleflies spend most of their time in the air, but they are also capable of slinking through pipes and tunnels. Adults will keep a distance and watch creatures like the Slugcat (with the exception of other Adult Noodleflies, who are always hostile to one another) curiously. They can swiftly dodge thrown Objects such as Spears and  Rubbish. This won't aggravate them at first, but actively attempting to hit one will eventually cause it to turn hostile.

Juvenile Noodleflies are passive and will never actively flee from predators. They're also edible, but very delicate and will die shortly after being grabbed. If caught, Juvenile Noodleflies will cry out in distress before dying, alerting the nearest adult in the region. Adult Noodleflies are relentless when hostile, and will try to hunt down whatever killed the infant for the rest of the cycle. Holding a Noodlefly Egg will also provoke any nearby adults until the item is dropped.

Combat
Adult Noodleflies are frail but fierce. They make up for their low health by being highly mobile and very difficult to hit 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 will usually send the Noodlefly into a wall or floor, getting it stuck for the next 3-4 seconds. The creature is unable to do anything while stuck, making those few seconds the perfect opportunity to stab it with a Spear or get away.

Adults are unable to attack while moving through a tunnel, therefore getting them into one may make for a good evasion strategy if no weapons are available. Alternatively, the player may attempt to get very close (practically touching the needle), as doing so will both make the Noodlefly unable to perform the stab, and may cause it to fully retract the needle for a short amount of time.

Variants
Adult Noodleflies have some of the highest color variety in the game, and can be found 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. Infant Noodleflies have less variation in their palette, which mainly features many shades of red with a little pink, and, interestingly, some grey as well. It's uncertain if this was intentional, or an error with the function which ended up in the final game.

Bugs

 * If a Noodlefly parent is killed in a hibernation chamber and the children are left alive when hibernating, on the following cycle, the children will be in the chamber whether they were there before or not.
 * If the previous glitch is performed and the babies are killed/eaten, a new Noodlefly will spawn and start hunting the player.

Trivia

 * If an Adult Noodlefly is killed while stuck in a surface, it'll stay that way for a few seconds before falling off.
 * Two Adult Noodleflies may stab each other simultaneously and die together.
 * The stab deals a little more damage than a Spear thrown by the Survivor (1.22), and the poke deals the equivalent of around 5 pieces of Rubbish (0.05).
 * When an Infant Noodlefly cries out, the nearest adult will attack the closest creature to the offspring, as opposed to the one that injured it. This makes spearing an infant from afar a niche way of dealing with predators, and eating the juvenile without alerting the parent.
 * A value called tempLike determines a creatures relationship with an Adult Noodlefly. This number slowly increases over time, but certain actions will lower it, and it falls below -0.25, the adult will become hostile for as long as it stays there. Notably, being the closest to an injured Infant Noodlefly will set this amount to -1, the lowest possible, which is also 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 will also decrease the value. In practice this means that missing 50 throws with Rubbish, 12 throws with a Spear, or hitting one 16 times with Rubbish will turn it hostile.