Question about two gathering cross class skills

[Raldo]

1) One turn of your skill is essentially wasted for every non-durability-consuming action you take while under the effect of Waste Not (II).

2) It works by... lowering the difficulty of the synth, quite literally as its description states. The effect basically increases the effectiveness of your progress/quality actions for the duration (obviously, it only works for synths that are above your level, or a little below in the case of Ingenuity II).

3) No cap that I am aware of. No, the touch skills do not need to be in a row. The quality actions but be successful, however. You can plainly watch your control increase by opening the character menu while you synth.