"Well... you are fairly small.", Beast said as she chuckled. "We both know that I'm the more average one when it comes to respective heights.", Perla gave a light teasing smile as she took a deep breath. "But please, I need to get those last two...".
The Beast paused for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodded, "Fine... but be quick about it.", and Perla sighed. "I can't promise you that. This has to be done right and that takes a bit of more time.", she told him. "But I'll certainly try to not take too much time.".
Beast replied, "Alright.", and Perla scooted the bowl of hot water closer as she carefully sat down on his thigh and went to stitch the third wound as Beast grinded his teeth, relieved for getting used to the routine of this, through the pain is still freshly new to him even after two times already of being stitched.
He watched Perla as she focused on the stitching carefully, remembering the fire and passion in her eyes when she slapped him again, and they're like a spark right now in her ocean blue eyes, a shade darker than his own sky-blue eyes...She's so beautiful. Her fingers are nimble and fast and smooth.
He wondered if her hands would fit him to give him a hand job down there, and he growled in frustration, trying to shake the memory of the wet dreams away, feeling himself getting slowly tight in his trousers.
He may be sick and clouded with illness, but he's still intact to realize that she was so close...so close to notice the situation soon enough if he can't keep it down, especially when there's one more wound to stitch up after this one.
"Alright... just one more to go... just need to move a bit on my end here and then we'll be all done... then you really need to get some rest to heal.", Perla told him.
Beast grumbled lowly, "Alright.", fighting back a growl as she moved up a bit, trying to wrestle the prominent memory of her riding him in one of his wet dreams, though he had no idea what she is truly is behind the brassiere and unmentionables, or if she was even able to fit him in real life, but in his dreams, it was so real...
He was told many very detailed advice by Lumiere when he went through puberty...He never, ever had wet dreams before, though he had to masturbate himself a lot of times when he was frustrated and such.
He snarled in frustration as he felt himself straining to be at full mast, so tight in his trousers, trying to keep in control, not wanting to be so ashamed when she notices and finds out, but he knew that he's sick and he is almost helpless to do anything with her, unable to claim her which he wants so badly, even with almost all his senses dulled, watching her stitching into his last wound as she replied, "What's wrong? Did I pull the stitches too tight?".
"No...", Beast shook his head as she bit her lip when what the other possible answer popped in her head. "Ah... sorry...", Perla apologized as she slowly got off of him. "Well, you'll be happy to know that everything went fine with the stitches; but we'll still have to keep an eye on them for a couple of weeks.".
Beast nodded lightly as he slowly got up, rolling over into all fours, trying to keep his balance, but his fever, his cold is still inebriating him as he flushed with embarrassment, "Uh...Maybe I'm stubborn, but...I suppose I couldn't mind some help just once...", using his furry tail to try and hide his situation.
Perla replied, "Well, I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself on the stairs or whatever.", with a smile, seeing that Beast is keeping his stubborn side in for her, and Beast gave a shaky smile as he looked at her, and they left the room, with Beast wincing at the slight pain whichever the stitches moved with his motions every time he took a step.
They made it to the stairs, and Perla glanced at him, "Best to stand up for now. Walking with those front arms isn't helping you.", and Beast nodded, gulping and biting his lip as he stood up, more careful now to not lean so much into Perla, even with the fever and cold catching him off balance, trying to use his furry tail, but it was difficult to do in this way, and before, it, along with his cape, hid his situation when he was on all fours.
Perla focused on assisting him, through there was some blushing moments when she glanced over to see the situation, and a thrill went through her at the sight of the strained appendage, and wondered how big it is, and how wonderfully rough he could be, and she tried to distract him with some more talking while they kept walking up the stairs and corridors.
"How long have you been here? I mean, those castles usually had royalty.", Perla asked curiously, and Beast rumbled, "Almost 10 years. It is almost the end of the ninth year here, and well, you may say that the castle and the territory of the castle went into despair and all when the nobles left or died to a deadly sickness...". Or a curse, which is worse than a deadly sickness.
That day, the innocence and nobility of the Prince died forever when he changed into the Beast...He knew that there were five petals left on the rose, to symbolize the seasons: this upcoming winter, and then the last year of the curse, four seasons.
Perla replied, "Oh, that's sad, but at least, your enchanted objects are keeping the castle clean and alive...it must be great shelter from the weather, and of course, wild animals...Did humans raise you here when they found you?". She knew a bit of the truth, of course, but she can't enrage him again, if he hates witches like Evangeline said, and she'd have to go along with it, for his sake, in case he's trying to keep the curse secret.
"It's... complicated.", Beast told her; Perla could obviously tell that he was trying to keep things to his chest even though she knew some of it.
Perla nodded, "That's fair...After all, I and my family only has been here for almost two days already, and we're essentially strangers to you, through the servants treat us as guests...", and Beast gave a soft chuckle, "That's the servants for you...They just want to be appreciated...".
A smile, "Makes sense. And oh, I know you might be taught things about society, but Ray and Naveen are not slaves, they are free blacks.", Perla replied, reminding him of yesterday.
Beast chuffed, "I'll apologize to the man when I wake up from bed...", and Perla gave him a bright smile, "Thank you, Beast!", hugging him, accidentally moving by brushing his throbbing situation in his trousers.
Both of them blushed, thought the Beast obviously was more embarrassed by things. Perla took a deep breath as she finally spoke again, "Must be quite the issue... dealing with that for all this time.", she said, "Again, I apologize for any discomfort that comes with me there...".
Beast huskily replied, "I'll have to get used to it...After all, I will eventually calm down when I know your scents by heart, however long you are all here, and it isn't your fault...My senses may be dulled, stopping me in time thankfully before I do anything I'd regret, but I don't want to scare you...if we could...be friends?".
Perla gave a small smile, "Friends...And even if I can see the frustration and angst in your eyes among your happiness and relief, I cannot satisfy you when you are ill, even if I want to help you...I only can nurse you back to health...So, please try to wait...For some time...I...I still can't forget about yesterday, even if I forgave you since it was my fault in the first place, slapping you like that and upstarting your primal instincts.".
Beast blushed once more upon hearing what she said as he nodded, "Right, um... so what was it that you wanted me to do again?". She gave a small smile, "Well, for starters, get some rest because you're in bad need of it; those wounds won't heal if you keep staying awake.".
Beast replied, "Yes, ma'am.", as they had reached the West Wing, but he averted to a better bedroom, without revealing his deepest secret, and Perla opened the door, helping him in, and Beast then glanced at Perla with a blush, "Forgive me if you hear things for a bit before I rest. I...it's not comfortable with the situation in bed...".
Perla nodded, blushing, "Okay. Just be sure to go straight to bed, or you will hear me lecture you for the next few days straight, clear?", and Beast nodded before exhaling, "Good night, Perla.".
"Good night, Beast.", Perla smiled at him, and left the room, and Beast took a deep breath, heading to the bathroom. As Perla left the West Wing, she knew he called her by her name a few times during the rescue, yet just earlier, she liked the sound of her name on his tongue when he wasn't in pain...And to offer to be friends even if he's nervous about it...
She can see the slow steps being accomplished in getting the Beast to be more human again, especially after almost 9 years, getting close to a decade, but she didn't blame him, and blushed deeply as she heard roars, and at least he'd be exhausted then to take a long sleep to recover.
Of course, part of her was still somewhat embarrassed with things... at least in the fact that her family probably was also hearing him in some way or another. But, at least for the time being, it seemed like that worries of being harmed or violated were passing; but the tension was still very much there and it would take time to help him.
She saw Lumiere and Cogsworth up ahead, and she looked down at them, "I and Mrs. Potts will check on him in the morning. If he's asleep, leave him while he recovers, alright? And don't embarrass him...He...he had a crazy evening of being carried, being sick and wounded, and of course, stitched up.".
"Very well...", Cogsworth said. "Thank you for helping him... I understand if you thought it might have just been better to leave him to the elements and his wounds after what had happened... normally prisoners don't help their captors if the change to rid them came.".
Perla replied, "My father once said appearances are like books. How do you know what kind of book it would be if you don't read it? Same thing with appearances...And I suppose Mrs. Potts told you...He's trying his best, and he somehow listened to me...Yes, he still has his temper, and that scares me and the family, and he's freaking stubborn...I have a feeling that things will be rough, but it will get better.".
Lumiere smiled, "And that's a bright outlook on it.", impressed of this woman, and Perla chuckled, "Thank you, Lumiere, and Cogsworth, I'm not a fool to leave anyone to the elements when they are in pain, especially when they have feelings and emotions, even though they seem not to care about being helped...He needs to know that he can be helped more than all what you've done for him, not that you're not helping him, but I suspect that he needs to be used to being helped beyond mentally, spiritually, to physically. Does that make sense?".
They nodded. "Yes... that usually is the true sign of someone pure at heart.", Lumiere said as Perla blushed. "I never would ever truly consider myself pure at heart... very good at heart but...", she bit her lip.
Lumiere scoffed, "Nonsense! You stood up for your family, to be a prisoner, to care with endured determination despite being scared and being brave to face our master. You are a good person, pure at heart!".
Cogsworth replied, "I may not agree with Lumiere a lot, but I agree with his point. And don't doubt that you have friends behind you, and with your family to support you, Miss Perla.".
Perla gave a warm smile, "Thank you, guys. Well, I better get going.", as she then headed to the library to see to the family, and smiled warmly as the children are slumbering in a sort of blanket fort near the large library fireplace.
The adults saw her coming in, a few faces among them looking relieved, and Jiminy replied, "Major and Arnaldo are settled in their stalls. They had an extra helping of oats since they literally hauled the Beast to the castle...", with a chuckle.
"That's good.", Perla smiled. "I helped take care of our 'captor's' wounds, but for the time being, he'll mostly be unable to do any sort of hunting. I managed to convince him to let some of you guys handle it; in terms of getting us some actual meat for food since we're sort of stuck here for the time being.".
Jules nodded, "Good! I know we have vegetables, herbs, and such from the fields, but some meat would be great too...Especially when you are carrying for three, my love...", kissing Leila's hand lovingly.
Leila smiled softly, "And I appreciate it...And how bad is he?", and Perla replied, "Combination of a fever and a stuffy cold, yet he barely somehow was aware of his surroundings...I think that was an hour or so...".
Juliet smirked, "And you sure it wasn't the pain? Slats, that was pure sexual tension in there too. How did he get sick, anyway?", and Perla tried to hide her blush as she replied with a huff, "He...he stayed outside all night, awake almost every hour., and then when he came back in at dawn or around then, he didn't rest barely, and I think he only cared about eating the food the servants brought along, but he didn't come out.", not going to mention his straight-up confession of why as she felt that he wanted it to be private between them.
"That all?", Juliet raised an eyebrow as Perla nodded. "He certainly was difficult at first to stitch up... once I did it a few times though, he was pretty calm towards the end.", she told her.
Jiminy replied, "So, he was being a hard child in a way then.", and Perla replied, "More or less, yes.", with a sigh.
Leila replied, "Well, I don't know about you, but I need rest.", and the others agreed, with Jules warmly picking up their slumbering daughter from the blanket fort, with Ray picking up Naveen, and Perla held Carlo warmly, and headed to their slightly better assigned bedrooms.
For a few days, Beast was fighting his fever, as the stuffy cold seemed to have transformed mildly into lots of aches and pains, and Mrs. Potts, along with Perla, helped with herbal teas and medicine, nursing him back to health, asleep all the same, moaning and murmuring in his sleep.
Perla was grateful to see him getting used to her presence, probably due to his senses of hearing and touch, despite being asleep and fevered.
"Think he'll finally break it today?", Mrs. Potts asked as she and Perla were heading for where the Beast took to sleep in his alternate bedroom. Obviously, the past few days taught Perla not to enter but at least knock, since the alternate bedroom is close to the end of the West Wing.
Mrs. Potts, on the other hand, could go in on an extreme case to his usual bedroom as she had once or twice in the past where the Beast didn't snap at her. Though it was only because she thought something was deathly wrong when he wouldn't answer her.
Perla replied, "I think so, the fever has been running down steadily.", with a hum, and Mrs. Potts smiled, "I believe so as well.", as her tea cart rolled down beside her. Perla went to knock on the door, "Beast?", expecting to hear the distinct grunt of affirmation from inside the room.
She heard a mix of a grunt and a growl, and she glanced at Mrs. Potts, "Sounds like he's waking up, or possibly able to move around the bathroom. Wait here. He might be confused, and I don't want him to hurt you, okay?".
"Darling, it's you I more worry about with him... I've known him since the day he was born, after all.", Mrs. Potts told her as Perla sighed. "That being said, I'm not as fragile as yourself...", Perla reminded.
Mrs. Potts sighed, "You are brave, Miss Perla.", and Perla gave her a small smile, "Thanks, Mrs. Potts.", and then slowly opened the door, closing it behind her.
"Beast?", Perla spoke up as she glanced around, trying to see if she could see the Beast or if he was lying in a corner out of sight. "Are you feeling a bit better today?", she asked.
A growl deeply came, "Perla...", a shadow coming over Perla, as the sound of the door locking was heard, and Perla gasped softly, looking up at Beast as she turned around, seeing a glint of mild fever, lust, and awareness in his sky-blue eyes.