Wow, um...I think so? That was...abrupt." Miles stopped the stopwatch, looking concerned.
"Are you ok?"
"Oh, yes, I'm fine...like I'm coming off a serious 90-minute massage...I just usually have a bit more time to enjoy the experience, you know?" The magician nodded.
"Well, we can try it the other way, there's just a minor change in the patter wording so..." he crossed to a workbench and jotted down the stopwatch time with a couple of notes, then moved back to the table, carrying the sheet from the paper frame. He draped the sheet over the tables and poked the button underneath. When the top plate retracted, pulling the sheet away, it revealed Penny un-flattened.
"Ok, so...more authentic...slow button," he poked under the table and the top plate began to rotate into place but considerably more gradually, "...of course, the squishing part is still necessary...hold very still, now..." he re-started the stopwatch and waited while the plates moved inexorably together. This time Penny could feel what was happening, as the edges of the open oval contacted her face and began to press down, touching more and more of her body with each quarter-inch. She let out a little "oh", feigning surprise, to get back into "character". It was deliciously relaxing though, indeed, much like an intense full-body massage. But she noticed that her volume wasn't being conserved...that is, her body wasn't spreading out as she was compressed, it was simply flattening down onto itself, retaining the same general outline.
She realized why, as the plates once again came completely together...she felt the flattened edges of her body merge somehow with the cut outline in the paper, so she was essentially of a piece with it, aside from her fingertips, toes and face.
"Brief pause for shock, Penny, are you still with us?" Miles repeated.
"I think so...this feels soooo wieeeerd...?" The magician chuckled.
"We're just getting started, my dear." He poked at the table button and the top panel retracted again. This time it left Penny still flattened, the slight bump of her face obvious on the table even from the side. "Looks like you're a bit taller than I expected, but we can work with that...wiggle your fingers a bit?" Penny obliged him, and the far corner of her paper bent up a bit as she tried to wave to the "audience". "And your toes?" She flexed them up and down, then spread them briefly, leaving no doubt that they were genuine.
As she was doing that, Miles wheeled the empty frame over to the table, then pulled the top edge of Penny's paper up into it, clipping it into place. He wheeled it backwards and she slid off the table until she dangled in the frame.
"Keep going, if you would?" he asked, and rotated the frame around. It was clear in profile that there was no place to hide Penny's body inside the literally paper-thin material. From the rear, the sheet was entirely flat, the back of her strawberry-blond bob perfectly "rendered" in 2D. As instructed, she kept her digits moving the whole time, her toes occasionally bumping the weird box thing at the frame's base. "Interrupt applause, Hang on, folks, like I said, we're just getting started...