diff --git a/src/PyVector.cpp b/src/PyVector.cpp
index 9438b42..b76e038 100644
--- a/src/PyVector.cpp
+++ b/src/PyVector.cpp
@@ -55,16 +55,22 @@ int PyVector::init(PyVectorObject* self, PyObject* args, PyObject* kwds)
 {
     using namespace mcrfpydef;
     static const char* keywords[] = { "x", "y", nullptr };
-    PyObject* leader;
+    PyObject* leader = NULL;
     double x=0, y=0;
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords, args, kwds, "|Of", leader, &y)
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "|Of", const_cast<char**>(keywords), &leader, &y))
     {
         //PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "mcrfpy.Vector requires a 2-tuple or two numeric values");
+        self->data = sf::Vector2f();
         return 0;
     }
+    else if (leader == NULL || leader == Py_None)
+    {
+        self->data = sf::Vector2f();
+        return 0;
+    } 
 
     // if the "r" arg is already a vector, yoink that color value
-    if (PyObject_IsInstance(leader, (PyObject*)&PyVectorType))
+    else if (PyObject_IsInstance(leader, (PyObject*)&PyVectorType))
     {
         self->data = ((PyVectorObject*)leader)->data;
         return 0;