Jupiter paused in his glare long enough to blink slowly, clear lids flitting shut, followed by heavier, sinuous outer lids. Hmmmm, so he'd been joined up with a troublemaker. Fun. He hated trouble. Solitary confinement had been just fine for him: after all, Jupiter had spent almost his whole life alone until he'd happened upon those unfortunate destroyers and they'd tried to bombard him. Other people just meant trouble.

Well, they were going to be stuck together on this one, though. Jupiter couldn't just squash him right there: pleasant as the thought was (and happy as he assumed it would make the guards, having heard their short "exchange"), if this small obnoxious fellow died then he would have lost the event already, and he would also be executed. That wasn't really his plan here. His plan was to survive, beat whatever other teams they had to face, and get back home. And that sadly meant that he and annoying here would be together for a long time.

How, then, could he make their time as pleasant for himself as possible? He reopened his lids just as slowly, taking in the fellow more-carefully. He was of an almost-humanoid race: Jupiter would have mistaken him for a human had he not had the benefit of seeing the collar bound around his neck. Such things weren't used on normal "patients". Obviously alien, then, though what sort Jupiter couldn't guess: after all, he'd had little experience with other races. The typical orange jumper looked highly-saturated on his grayish form, hanging loosely about a form that appeared probably to at least be reasonably healthy, if one didn't take into account the obvious scars and recent bruises that spotted him. Probably a fighter, then. At least he might have some chance of not dying instantly when they got wherever they would go.

It had been a good thirty to sixty seconds since the newcomer had finished his quip, and finally Jupiter decided on a course of action. A deep, deep sound, like a recording of a train with a high-pass filter applied, rumbled out from his carapace. He modulated it into some semblance of laughter, and brought his head down to the humanoid alien's height, adjusting the tube that stretched from the wall to his maw so as not to dislodge it. His head was easily as long as the man, and Jupiter placed it upon the ground so that he could angle one of his eyes to look upward at him. His odd, deep laugh continued as he finally uttered his response.

"That must be it. I think that they probably have psychics who read your mind to figure out what kind of pet to give you if you have especially-good behavior. I wanted nothing, and they appear to have gotten that right, until now. I am uncertain as to what you would consider a trick."

Try as he might, Jupiter couldn't get his deep voice to sound jovial. His lines came out deadpan, flat and uninclined. He finally stopped his "laugh", and turned his head slightly to change his view. Hopefully responding positively to this individual would result in a good relationship, and soon the desire to stomp on him would disappear.