TEASER
FADE IN
In, you guessed it, a tavern, somewhere in ancient Greece.
Two men sit at the bar by the door, staring into their mugs of wine as a bartender idly cleans (to a limited extent) empty mugs.
One of the men is lanky with spikey blond hair and piercing eyes; the other is a bit doughy-faced with dark hair and a goatee. They are... Capaneus and Iphis.
"Did you try the red wine?" Iphis, the goateed man, asks, his voice slurry. He is clearly not on his first drink of the evening.
"Nooo," Capaneus, the blond, replies, even more slurrily, if that's a word. "Barkeep, some red, please."
The bartender turns and arches an eyebrow. Capaneus holds up a copper coin and grins. The bartender's eyebrow de-arches and he pours some wine into Capaneus's mug.
Capaneus and Iphis clink mugs.
"To a quest well-ended," Capaneus says.
Iphis shrugs. "We didn't catch Autolycus. We didn't clear our names. We're still fugitives. And your wife has run off with that pool-cleaning boy Cabannah. This quest has hardly been well-ended."
Capaneus considers this. "Then to a quest, well... ended."
"Cheers," Iphis says, clinking mugs once more and taking a deep drink.
They sit there for a long moment. "You know, we could always move to Brittania," Iphis says.
"Or we could resume the hunt for Autolycus," Capaneus counters.
Iphis frowns. "That's given us nothing but grief."
"Life's given us nothing but grief."
"True. But really, what are the odds... that..." Iphis trails off.
Capaneus looks at him curiously. "What are the odds that... what..." he starts, then trails off as well.
They watch out a window as Autolycus strolls past the bar.
Followed by his exact duplicate, only without the mustache and soulpatch, and clad in black.
Followed by Muran.
Followed by her exact duplicate, only clad in silken robes and wearing her hair cut short, coming only partway down her neck.
Capaneus and Iphis look into their mugs skeptically.
"I think something's wrong with the red," Capaneus says as we...
FADE OUT.
OPENING CREDITS ROLL.

ACT ONE
TITLE CARD: "Duets"
GUEST STARRING: A Buncha People
FADE IN
as Autolycus and Gene the Genie walk along, followed by bandit princess Muran and her Chinese double Mu Ran, followed by queen of thieves Shantarra, master gambler Xing Chi, youthful bodyguard Hallasan, and hefty Chinese war god Lao Bing.
"OK, we need to get somewhere where we can figure this all out," Autolycus announces.
"No problem," Gene says, and snaps his fingers.
In a blink of an eye, the whole group is floating in nothingness. All around them is white.
Autolycus stares at Gene.
"Limbo," Gene says helpfully. "No distractions at all."
"Not what I had in mind," Autolycus growls.
Gene snaps his fingers.
They are suddenly seated on silk pillows around a hookah, while bellydancers gyrate and music plays.
"Still not what I had in mind," Autolycus says.
Gene starts to snap his fingers, but Autolycus cups his hand over Gene's. "I wasn't complaining that time," Autolycus explains.
Muran gets to her feet and motions to Mu Ran. "You, come with me."
Mu Ran gets up. Hallasan starts to as well, but Mu Ran motions to him to sit back down.
The two girls depart the noisy, smoke-filled chamber.
Outside is a beautiful desert night, with moonlight shining down on dunes and on gigantic pyramids in the distance.
"Egypt," Muran says, shaking her head. "Knowing our luck, we'll run into Lord Bouh-L'ar before this is over."
"Egypt?" Mu Ran asks, gaping. "I... I've never dreamed I would travel this far, and I've done it in the snap of that man's fingers."
"He's a genie," Muran explains.
"Why does he look like your travelling companion?" Mu Ran asks. "Did he choose to emulate the first likeness he encountered when he materialized or something?"
Muran shrugs. "That or it's just a coincidence," she says. "So... I'm Muran."
"And I'm Mu Ran."
"Uh-huh. We've got to figure this out."
"Figure what out?"
"Why there are two of us. What we should do. Who's behind all this."
Mu Ran contemplates this. "Well, to my understanding... we're sisters."
Muran frowns. "I don't have a sister!"
Mu Ran points to her own face. "Coincidence?"
"It's... it's happened before," Muran says. "This chick named Xena, I've run into about four women who all look like her. A priestess, a barmaid, a poet, I think there was at least one other. All by coincidence."
"Or perhaps her father... got around?" Mu Ran suggests.
Muran nods. "Maybe. But at any rate, us looking alike, that doesn't necessarily make us sisters."
"But us coming from the same mother, being separated at birth, that does," Mu Ran replies.
Muran considers this. "Yeah... you make a good point. So what do you know about our history?"
Mu Ran starts to explain as we...

CUT TO:
Back inside the hookah bar, Autolycus and Xing Chi both glare at Shantarra as she gazes admiringly at Gene.
"So let me get this straight," Shantarra says. "You look like Toly here, but you obey wishes and don't sass back?"
"To my master, yes," Gene says. "Or my mistress."
"And what does it take to become your mistress?" Shantarra asks coyly.
"Get hold of Autolycus's artifact," Gene says.
"Been there, done that," Shantarra replies.
Autolycus holds up a silver-plated oil lamp. "He means this."
"That?" Shantarra asks. "All I have to do is get that out of your hands and he's MY genie and not yours?"
Autolycus grips the lamp a little tighter.
"I thought you wanted me out of your hair," Gene says.
"Yeah, but I don't want you in hers," Autolycus snaps.

CUT BACK TO:
Muran and Mu Ran.
"So I was sent to Greece and you stayed behind with our real parents?" Muran asks. "You got to grow up in a nice seaside home while I got abandoned on the street and had to fend for myself?"
"You had a life of adventure while I had a life of boredom," Mu Ran says. "My... our mother thought you died in childbirth. She has taken flowers to what she thought was your grave every week."
"My grave?" Muran asks. "What was my name?"
"Ma Tsa," Mu Ran replies.
Muran considers this. "That's a pretty name."
"I've dreamed about what life would be like if you had lived," Mu Ran says. "I imagined us getting into all sorts of mischief, exploring..."
"But you could've explored on your own," Muran says.
"Not with our bodyguards," Mu Ran says. "They're so over-protective."
"You mean that cute boy in there?" Muran asks, pointing a thumb back at the hookah bar. "I wouldn't mind him wanting to be near me."
Mu Ran bristles, just a tiny bit. "Hallasan is nice, but he's just the latest in a long line of guardians. I've never had time to myself."
"I had plenty to myself," Muran says. "The people who brought me from Chin to Greece abandoned me years ago. Even my cat, Blossom, ran away. I spent years scavenging for scraps before Toly took me on as his protege."
"He's even more good-looking than Hallasan," Mu Ran says.
Muran makes a gag noise. "Ew! Ew, ew, ew! That's Autolycus you're talking about!"
"Are you saying he's not handsome?" Mu Ran asks.
"Well.... not that, no, but... he's like my big brother!" Muran replies.
"He's not like mine," Mu Ran says. "If I were just two or three years older..."
"Ew, ew, ew!" Muran snaps, covering her ears as we...
FADE OUT.

...I love smoking shisha from a hookah. So tasty.

And do you know "Tsa" in Fukien (the language my family speaks), means "nuisance"? That's...great XD

Spikey, blond-haired guy, eh? Hmm... ^_^