regex - Perl: How to use proper data structures:multili line, multiple capture groups

I have a file:

XXGuy:Tom1XXBill1XXXXBlah2XX\n
XXFriend:Bob1XXcarry:Stuff1XX\n
XXGuy:Tom2XXBill2XXXXBlah7XX\n
XXFriend:Bob2XXcarry:Stuff2XX\n

The content I want to extract is Tom{1,2}, Bob1{1,2}, and Stuff1{1,2} and print:

"Tomx's friend is Bobx and is carrying Stuffx"

I can use a multi-line regex with multiple capture groups and Tomx, Bobx, and Stuffx will be in $1, $2, and $3 and I can print each element out but can't really process them in the way I'd like as described - I don't know how to store into what structure (Array/Hash don't see to fit the bill here?) and retrieve the data.

I'm looking at these posts:

Perl: Pulling pairs of values from an array
Finding multiple matches with multiline regex perl

Suggestions?