diff --git a/tests/cell.cpp b/tests/cell.cpp
index 100787e37..474b55269 100644
--- a/tests/cell.cpp
+++ b/tests/cell.cpp
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 class CellTest : public :: testing::Test {
  protected:
   void SetUp() override {
+    setlocale(LC_ALL, nullptr);
     if(getenv("TERM") == nullptr){
       GTEST_SKIP();
     }
diff --git a/tests/egcpool.cpp b/tests/egcpool.cpp
index ddb14c274..c8a3085d9 100644
--- a/tests/egcpool.cpp
+++ b/tests/egcpool.cpp
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 class EGCPoolTest : public :: testing::Test {
  protected:
   void SetUp() override {
+    setlocale(LC_ALL, nullptr);
   }
 
   void TearDown() override {
@@ -22,10 +23,20 @@ TEST_F(EGCPoolTest, Initialized) {
   EXPECT_EQ(0, pool_.poolused);
 }
 
+TEST_F(EGCPoolTest, UTF8EGC) {
+  const char* wstr = "☢";
+  int c;
+  auto ulen = utf8_gce_len(wstr, &c);
+  ASSERT_LT(0, ulen);
+  EXPECT_LT(0, c);
+}
+
 TEST_F(EGCPoolTest, AddAndRemove) {
   const char* wstr = "﷽";
   size_t ulen;
-  ASSERT_EQ(0, egcpool_stash(&pool_, wstr, &ulen));
+  int c; // column count
+  ASSERT_LE(0, egcpool_stash(&pool_, wstr, &ulen, &c));
+  ASSERT_LT(0, c);
   EXPECT_NE(nullptr, pool_.pool);
   EXPECT_STREQ(pool_.pool, wstr);
   EXPECT_LT(0, pool_.poolsize);
@@ -41,10 +52,14 @@ TEST_F(EGCPoolTest, AddAndRemove) {
 
 TEST_F(EGCPoolTest, AddTwiceRemoveFirst) {
   const char* wstr = "血";
-  size_t u1, u2;
-  int o1 = egcpool_stash(&pool_, wstr, &u1);
-  int o2 = egcpool_stash(&pool_, wstr, &u2);
+  size_t u1, u2; // bytes consumed
+  int c1, c2; // column counts
+  int o1 = egcpool_stash(&pool_, wstr, &u1, &c1);
+  int o2 = egcpool_stash(&pool_, wstr, &u2, &c2);
+  ASSERT_LE(0, o1);
   ASSERT_LT(o1, o2);
+  ASSERT_LT(0, c1);
+  ASSERT_EQ(c1, c2);
   EXPECT_NE(nullptr, pool_.pool);
   EXPECT_STREQ(pool_.pool + o1, wstr);
   EXPECT_STREQ(pool_.pool + o2, wstr);
@@ -61,9 +76,12 @@ TEST_F(EGCPoolTest, AddTwiceRemoveFirst) {
 TEST_F(EGCPoolTest, AddTwiceRemoveSecond) {
   const char* wstr = "血";
   size_t u1, u2;
-  int o1 = egcpool_stash(&pool_, wstr, &u1);
-  int o2 = egcpool_stash(&pool_, wstr, &u2);
+  int c1, c2; // column counts
+  int o1 = egcpool_stash(&pool_, wstr, &u1, &c1);
+  int o2 = egcpool_stash(&pool_, wstr, &u2, &c2);
   ASSERT_LT(o1, o2);
+  ASSERT_LT(0, c1);
+  ASSERT_EQ(c1, c2);
   EXPECT_NE(nullptr, pool_.pool);
   EXPECT_STREQ(pool_.pool + o1, wstr);
   EXPECT_STREQ(pool_.pool + o2, wstr);
diff --git a/tests/ncplane.cpp b/tests/ncplane.cpp
index 9046a495a..b9d34ec50 100644
--- a/tests/ncplane.cpp
+++ b/tests/ncplane.cpp
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 class NcplaneTest : public :: testing::Test {
  protected:
   void SetUp() override {
+    setlocale(LC_ALL, nullptr);
     if(getenv("TERM") == nullptr){
       GTEST_SKIP();
     }
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ class NcplaneTest : public :: testing::Test {
     ASSERT_NE(nullptr, nc_);
     n_ = notcurses_stdplane(nc_);
     ASSERT_NE(nullptr, n_);
+    ASSERT_EQ(0, ncplane_cursor_move_yx(n_, 0, 0));
   }
 
   void TearDown() override {
@@ -104,7 +106,7 @@ TEST_F(NcplaneTest, RejectBadRGB) {
 TEST_F(NcplaneTest, EmitWchar) {
   const char cchar[] = "✔";
   cell c{};
-  cell_load(n_, &c, cchar);
+  EXPECT_EQ(strlen(cchar), cell_load(n_, &c, cchar));
   EXPECT_EQ(strlen(cchar), ncplane_putc(n_, &c));
   int x, y;
   ncplane_cursor_yx(n_, &y, &x);
diff --git a/tests/notcurses.cpp b/tests/notcurses.cpp
index d6f080c38..9c7d13544 100644
--- a/tests/notcurses.cpp
+++ b/tests/notcurses.cpp
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 class NotcursesTest : public :: testing::Test {
  protected:
   void SetUp() override {
+    setlocale(LC_ALL, nullptr);
     if(getenv("TERM") == nullptr){
       GTEST_SKIP();
     }