LOL! Could be me!
Creampoints and redpoints can look very similar, easy to mix up when they are kittens especially. My Lucy is a creampoint, don't know if I've got pics of her in the gallery - when you see her and Sam (redpoint) together its easy to see the difference, but when you see a red or a cream colourpoint in isolation its not always easy to tell.
Sam and the tomatoey face - well that'll go down in history....! Suzie, she was beautiful, she came to me age 10 and i sadly lost her to CRF (due to PKD) age 14.
No there's no difference between Exotics and Persians (cept for the coat as you say) - they are all......addictive!
I don't think Exotics prefer to be 'only' cats, my persians all (mostly!) love to be with each other, sleep together, wash each other etc (and with my moggies too) - but there have been exceptions (that was a simple clash of personalities between 2 cats though) and I guess that it all depends on each individual cat.
Do you know what Seb's pedigree name and cattery prefix was? What happened to him?