diff --git a/flamingo/val.c b/flamingo/val.c
index 062878e..5263c75 100644
--- a/flamingo/val.c
+++ b/flamingo/val.c
@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ static void val_free(flamingo_val_t* val) {
 }
 
 static flamingo_val_t* val_decref(flamingo_val_t* val) {
+	if (val == NULL) {
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
 	val->ref_count--;
 
 	if (val->ref_count > 0) {
diff --git a/questions.md b/questions.md
index eba68dd..f3fb7c6 100644
--- a/questions.md
+++ b/questions.md
@@ -6,3 +6,5 @@ I'm keeping track of these so I don't forget why I did something a certain way a
 *Q:* Should I really be passing TSNode everywhere instead of TSNode*? It feels like this is prone to me being like "oh, well, the TSNode type is probably hiding a pointer if it's being used as an argument, so I don't have to worry about out-of-scope usage".
 
 *A:* Yes. Tree-sitter passes them as values, so be consistent with that.
+
+*Q:* Do gently detached scopes need to be freed or are they already?