Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-6192846-20141206164019/@comment-6192846-20141208014058

The Gift novel iterates that it's an incomplete off-shoot, as Irina can only fully possess objects (stuffed cat) and not people like Elluka or Eve. This is part of the narration explaining Elluka's knowledge about the mysterious mage with the red cat.

This is the same point of contention Germaine brings up in the fight against Abyss that Elluka deduced; Abyss' soul is not actually in the bodies she possesses. She operates them while her soul remains in the cat.