Okay so. Initially I made this post suggesting a polyship between Red Velvet, Pastry, Clotted Cream and Financier as a joke, but thanks to a Kpop Demon Hunters inspired AU I've been working on(dw abt it), I've put a lot of thought into it and lowkey I don't think its a joke anymore cuz I actually found some REALLY interesting parallels between them that I need to infodump abt bcuz HOLY SHIT-
Cutting to the chase: RedPastry is what Clottcier could have ended up being. Like genuinely, had things gone differently for them, Financier and Clotted Cream could've ended up in almost the exact same positions as Pastry and Red Velvet, respectively. And I promise I'm not just saying that because I like projecting onto Clotted and RV okay there's substance to this I swear-
Starting off with Financier and Pastry, the differences between them essentially come down to which religion they were guided to. Both are devout worshippers of particular faiths, both are highly skilled fighters, and both of them use the power of their faith in battle. However, while Financier's faith is to a decently normal, albeit flawed church, Pastry is in an Actual Goddamn Cult. Like. There's no beating around the bush here, the St Pastry Order is a goddamn cult. It's been called that multiple times in the game by now that's how much of a cult it is. Despite how similar both of them are, Pastry is in a significantly worse position all because she pledged herself to a different group. One that Financier was also genuinely at risk of being brought into too! Financier's relationship with Mille-feuille Cookie, who she's known since she was a small child, put her at active risk of being indoctrinated into the St Pastry Order. I'm not entirely sure what went differently for Financier since I haven't gotten to chapter 3 of Odyssey yet, but either way it was still 100% possible for her to have been taken into the Order when she was still a child. Financier was very, VERY close to ending up exactly the same as Pastry, all it would've taken was a few different decisions from her and the people around her.
Moving on to Clotted Cream and Red Velvet, the parallels between them are a lot less obvious at first. They're both in positions of power, sure, but beyond that they don't seem to have a lot in common... until you start thinking about the implications of Red Velvet's relationship with Dark Enchantress. Because like, okay. Red Velvet was taken in by Dark Enchantress at a VERY young age directly after losing an arm to the witches, where she gave him his cake arm to foster connection between him and the cakes. And while we don't know the exact timeline, we do know that probably pretty soon afterwards she started raising her cake army and waging war on the ancients. Red Velvet then goes on to become the general of the cake legions at some point, acting on Dark Enchantress' orders. This implies, to me at least, that Dark Enchantress raised him SPECIFICALLY to fill the role of her general, and given the fact that we've never actually seen them interact on screen + literally everything we know about DEC as a character, I'm willing to bet that she was at BEST neglectful and at WORST out right emotionally abusive towards him the whole time. All that to say... that's very similar to how Clotted Cream was raised, right? Like, he was taken in by House Custard after his mother's house fell from grace, raised to be a politician, and severely emotionally abused along the way. Sure, it's a lot less dramatic, Clotted never lost an arm or anything, but if my take on RV's childhood is right then the core elements are pretty much the same. The only difference is that Clotted has a SIGNIFICANTLY better support network then Red Velvet ever had the chance to. Like even if it's just the absolute bare minimum of Not Living In A Society Completely Dependant On His Dads Vision, Clotted isn't in an echo chamber constantly confirming that the way he was raised is normal and that he needs to do whatever his dad says in order to achieve his goals, while Red Velvet DEFINITELY IS. Clotted got the chance to escape the indoctrination and try to accomplish things outside of his dads vision, while Red Velvet's never known anything outside of what his mom wants him to be. AKRKGOEKFKE THESE TWO MAKE ME PHYSICALLY ILL-
Uh. Anyway. All this is to say that these characters have a LOT in common, and those similarities are only amplified by their canon dynamics with each other. Red Velvet and Pastry are what Clotted Cream and Financier could have been if they were cut off from the rest of the world, and Clotted Cream and Financier are what Red Velvet and Pastry could still be if they manage to break free of their respective cults. And the idea of them interacting is just SO FUCKING JUICY OH MY GOD- there's so much angst potential!!! So much hurt/comfort!!! Just AAKDJVKSKFKSKD THERE'S SO MUCH YOU COULD DO WITH THESE FOUR I'M LOSING MY MIND-
Anyway uh tl;dr is that Clottcier is just RedPastry if they weren't in cults and because the pairings are so similar yet so different there's a lot of potential for mutual growth from everyone involved if they were to interact. Also I relate to Clotted Cream and Red Velvet too much for my own good pls send help.
Oh also comic creator is a beautiful thing