The problem I perceived however wouldn't have been circumvented by the _noinc usage.
Heh-heh -- I was going to add something like "or else you have assumed something more chimeric about the RV" since based on the empirical it seemed to me this is just a pointer value but your explication explicates (namely the implicit sv_2mortal, and the implication that the RV is a scalar tracked by perl, not just a pointer value), cool. I am very new to perl internals.
PL_sv_count does indicate an issue but I am too beat for this evening. Thanks!